Message this Sunday The Kingdom extended through the church

This verse from Ephesians 1…using the Message Translation pretty much nails it.

20-23All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

That is so inspiring…..but do we really believe that our community believes that?As I walk my dog down by the river at Bayswater..and I see the people walking by, happy…listening to their ipods……. As I walk down beaufort st, and see the people happily buying $5 loaves of bread from Lawleys and $4 coffees from Dome….how is the church relevant to their lives….how many people, if I stopped them, would say….yes the church is relevant and important in my life.I wonder how many of us would actually say the church is important in my life…and I wonder what the evidences of that would be….I suspect that people are not looking for a great church… The age in which institutional religion holds appeal is passing away. And I suspect that is because people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.”

So we can build the perfect church, but we will run the risk of seriously missing the point….we can build the perfect church, but people will still not come….This is the world and the culture that we live in….So what is the point of the church? Well the church was created to join with God on His mission to extend His kingdom in the world………

It’s not about church being relevant to people, it’s about JESUS being relevant to people- and he is!Jesus said go preach the GOSPEL (which is the power of God unto salvation), not go preach church, or go get people churched.The unsaved need to know Jesus not find a “relevant church”

The church is the Body of Christ. The Church is the medium through which Christ presents Himself and the GOSPEL…..

I believe very strongly that when someone becomes a Christian…they do so by becoming part of the Body of Christ. I think we have emphasised personal salvation too much…to the detriment of the theology of the Body of Christ…and I think this we have done this because our culture has emphasised individualism….